Automatic electric circuit breaker



April 7, 1931.

A. LANSER 1,799,693

AUTOIATIC ELECTRIC CIRCUIT BREAKER Filed Oct. 11, 1929 Patented Apr. 7,1931 mm mm, or COBSEAUX-VEVEY, SWITZERLAND AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC CIRCUITBREAKER Application fll bd October 1*1, 1929, Serial No; 398,886, and inLuxemburg September 24, 1929.

This: invention relates to electric circuit breakers or switches andmore particularly and directly to an improved apparatus of the mercurytype; Among the 0bli jects at the" invention is: to provide an improvedapparatus oithe character described comprising few and simple partswhich shall easily assembled, which shall: be cheap to manufacture,shall be positive, sensitive and quick i n action, and efiicient andpractical to a high degree in use. An installaticn' 0"! an apparatusembodying this invention in a liquid; fuel burning system is and'described in my copen'ding application, Somal -K03985130 filed Sept.30, 1929.

Further objects of the invention will appear in the annexedspecification and drawing which latter represents one practical em bodinient of same, and in which- Fi re 1 is a; sectional viewof a mercurycircuit breaker constructed to embody the invention; and

g V F'rgureQ is a View of the improved ap 'RMUSI;

0* an automatic, sensitive, differentially and constantly balanced,rapid operatin t, ci'rcu'itbreakcr, such for example, as use asa safetydevice in an oil burning heatmg installation, as is fully described andshown in my aforesaid copending application', thec'rrcuit Ia'eaker ispositioned adjacent the burner so" that it may be subjected directl tothe radiatin heat emitted by the burner. er circuit brew er" functionsto connect the motor actuating machinery in connection with the burner"so as to" close and maintain the ower circuitto the motor closed whenthe; urner' operates and during the entire period of operation and toopen such circuit when the burner goes out or does not light.

Referring now more to the drawing, the circuit breaker constructedtoembody the invention is seen to be comprised of two bulbs a and 6 madeof any suitable material, such as sili'co-boron glass, each of saidbulbs a and I) being formed with a receptacle a and b respectively,containing asmall amountof mercur Ihstead' of conne 'ng these bulbs inthe conventional manner at their lower parts they are instead providedwith an inverted U-shapedtube 0., The tube 0 extends from the upper partof the bulb 1) into the bulb a and is immersed in the mercury containedin the receptaclea An electrode 6 is provided which extends through thetube 0 and terminates a distance at above the level of the mercury inthe receptacle a Another electrode extends into the mercury in saidreceptacle (1 I The bulb a above the mercury is filled with a suitablegas, such as will not be effected by arcing on making and breaking thecircuit.

The circuit breaker described above operatesquicker in opening andclosingthe circuit than those of the conventional type usedhere'tofore', because the relative change of level of the mercury requiredfor operating the circuit breaker is less and the transference of gasfrom the bulb a to the bulb b and vice versa, takes place more easilyand rapidly. For the above reasons the improved circuit breakers willalso retain its operating set adjustment and sensitiveness. V Tofurther'increase the accuracy of the device, the bulbs a and 'b may becounter-balanced by providing a second tube 0 which is similar tothetube 0. The latter extends from the upper part of the bulb a into thebulb b and is immersed in the mercury contained in the receptacle N.

In orderto reduce the heightof the column of mercury to be overcome bythe gas pressure and to facilitate and accelerate the transference ofthe gas from one bulb to the other, the ends of the tubes 0 and c whichare immersed in' the mercury, contained in the receptacles a and 6respectively, are cut on the bias.

As shown in Figure 1 the ends of the tubes 0 and c oppositethoseimmersed in the mercury extend to approximately the middle of the bulbso that the mercury may be transferred from one bulb to the other whenfound necessary. The bulbs a and b are suitably shaped as for examplebeing helmet-like to provide for a reserve supply of mercury forallowing adjustment of the circuit breaker asshownin Figure 1 in thebulbb.

For rigidly interconnecting'the bulbs a and b, there is provided one ormore braces of glass.

To increase the rapidity of actuation of the circuit breaker one of thebulbs as for example a is provided with a material for absorbing theradiating heat emitted by a burner in action. This material preferablyis applied as a coating over the bulb, as shown in Figure 2. The circuitbreaker when installed in the burner system is then positioned so thatthe bulb (1 forms a screen for the bulb b. The operation of the circuitbreaker from the above description is apparent.

In the above description the preferred construction of my apparatus hasbeen described. Obviously numerous other modifications of the apparatusmay be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. 1

Having described my invention what 1 claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is 1. An automatic rapid electric circuit breaker ofthe type described comprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, a cylindricalreceptacle depending from each of said bulbs, mercury in saidreceptacles, a tube interconnecting the upper part of said bulbs, anextension at one end of said tube depending into one of saidreceptacles, an electrode on said last mentioned receptacle extendinginto the mercury therein, a second electrode disposed within the saidextension at a predetermined distance from said last mentioned mercury,and an inert gas in said bulbs.

2. An automatic rapid electric circuit breaker of the typedescribedcomprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, a cylindrical receptacledepending from each of said bulbs, mercury in said receptacles, a tubeinterconnect,- ing the upper part of said bubs, an extension at one endof said tube depending into one of said receptacles, an extension nearthe other end of said tube extending into said other receptacle, anelectrode in one of said receptacles extending into the mercury therein,a second electrode disposed in the extension corresponding to said lastmentioned receptacle at a predetermined distance from the mercurytherein, and an inert gas in said bulbs.

- 3. An automatic rapid electric circuit breaker of the type describedcomprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, a cylindrical receptacledepending from each of said bulbs, mercury in said receptacles, a tubeinterconnecting the upper part of said bulbs, an extension at one end ofsaid tube depending into one of said receptacles, said extension havingits free extremity cut on the bias, an extension near the other end ofsaid tube extending into said other receptacle, said second extensionhavingits free extremity cut on the bias, an

electrode in one of said receptacles extending into the mercury therein,a second electrode disposed in the extension corresponding to said lastmentioned receptacle at a predetermined distance from the mercurytherein, and an inert gas in said bulbs.

4. An automatic rapid electric circuit breaker of the type describedcomprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, a cylindrical receptacledepending from each ofsaid bulbs, mercury in said receptacles, a tubeinterconnecting the upper part of said bulbs, an extension at one end ofsaid tube depending "into oneof saidreceptacles, said extension havingits free extremity cut on the bias, an electrode on said last mentionedreceptacle extending into the mercury therein, a second electrodedisposed within the said extension at a predetermined distance fromsaid'last mentioned mercury, and an inert gas in said bulbs. Y

5. An automatic rapid electric circuit breaker or" the type described.comprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, a cylindrical receptacledepending from each of said bulbs, mercury in said receptacles, a tubeinterconnecting the upper part of said bulbs, an extension at one end ofsaid tube depending into one of said receptacles,'an electrode on saidlast mentioned receptacle extending into the mercury therein, a secondelectrode disposed within thesa'idextension at a predetermined distancefrom said last mentioned mercury, an inert gas in said .bulbs, and aheat-absorbing material coveringthe bulb of said last mentionedreceptacle 6. An automatic rapid electric circuit -breaker of the typedescribed comprising a pair of helmet-like bulbs, acylindrical rece-pstacle depending from each of said bulbs,

mercury in said receptacles a tube interconnecting the upper part ofsaid bulb s, an

extension at one end of said tube depending into one of saidreceptacles, an electrode on said last mentioned receptacle.extendinginto the mercury therein,a second electrodedisposed within the saidextension-at a predetermined distance from said last mentioned mercury,an inert gas in said bulbs,and a plurality of bracing cross-piecesinterconnecting said tubes.

7 An electric circuit breaker of the character described comprising apair of horizontally spaced .bulbs, an inert gas in said bulbs, aninverted U-shaped tube interconnectingsaidjbulbs, an electrode extendingthrough said tube, and mercury in one of said bulbs for contacting withsaid. electrode.

8. An electric circuit breaker ofthe character described comprising apair of bulbs, an inert gas and mercury in said bulbs, a pair ofinverted U-shaped tubes interconnecting said bulbs, having an end ofeach immersed in said mercury, an electrode extending through one ofsaid tubes for contacting with the mercury in one of said bulbs. f

9.; An electric circuit breaker of thecharan inert gas and mercury ineach bulb, a first inverted U-shaped tube interconnecting said bulbs,one end of the first tube extending into one of the bulbs and the otherend thereof immersed in the mercury contained in the other bulb, asecond inverted U-shaped tube interconnecting said bulbs, one end of thesaid second tube extending into the last mentioned bulb, the other endof said second tube immersedin the mercury contained in the firstmentioned bulb, and an electrode extending through one of said tubes forcontacting With the mercury.

10. A device as defined in claim 7 in which one of said bulbs includes aheat absorbing material.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature. r

ALFRED LANSER.

